Screen capture from Francis Fausto Tady video
THE 21st Annual Parol Lantern Festival takes place at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YCBA) located at 701 Mission Street in the South of Market area in downtown San Francisco on Saturday, December 9 from 3 to 8 p.m.
The community is invited to participate in the Taste of Christmas, Parol Stroll and Tala Awards, and come together in the spirit of community. There will also be live music and performances, as well as family friendly activities hosted by the Children’s Creativity Museum in the YCBA lobby.
This year’s theme, “Breaking Dawn: Illuminating Mental Wellness,” will shed light on the important issue of mental health within the Filipino community. Beyond celebrating our cultural traditions, the festival aims to dispel the stigma around mental health, fostering a community that nurtures mental well-being.
The metaphor of “Breaking Dawn” serves as a powerful theme for this year’s Tala Awards as traditional Filipino Parol lanterns become beacons of hope and enlightenment, each one telling a unique journey and vision of mental wellness.
To RSVP to the annual Parol Lantern Festival, go to https://www.parollanternfestival.com/rsvp2023. More information about the annual Parol Lantern Festival, including a video on the origins of parol-making and how the festival came about, can be found at https://www.parollanternfestival.com/history.
